Newark Docu
Location: Newark, New Jersey Date: February 24, 1991 Story On the night of February 24, 1991 at the University Hospital Trauma Center in Newark, New Jersey, an emergency room team faced a serious case when a severely wounded man was helped into there. Dr. Carmela Sophia assessed his injuries while the two women who brought him in wait outside. "He was stabbed in the back. Right away, you listen to his lungs to see if you hear decreased breath sounds on the side he was stabbed. His breathing was not deep as it should have been," said Dr. Sophia. Assistant hand nurse Mary Beth Lab held his hand to calm him down. "I kept giving him directions to roll over and sit up on the bed. Then the officer finally stopped me and said, "No, he's unable to speak." Then I realized that he was deaf and was not able to speak on his own," said Mary Beth. Mary Beth signed and asked the victim questions about what happened. "That makes my heart go out to somebody. It makes me want to stay there even more and hold his hand and keep telling him, "I know you are going to be all right. You're not going to die. You just have to hang in there and believe me," said Mary Beth. He explained that he was at his ex-girlfriend's house. The trauma team laughed and decided not to call her. Once, the victim was stabilized his girlfriend and her sister, who were waiting outside, were brought in to help the trauma team communicate. X-rays revealed that 23-year-old Robert Young had suffered a collapsed lung. Mary Beth explained that they were going to cut him open, insert a chest tube that would help him breathe, and it would hurt. Mary Beth held Robert's hand tightly while the trauma team put a needle in his chest to make it numb so he wouldn't feel the chest tube go into there. She explained to him that he would feel lots of pressure. "It's a very painful procedure and you just don't know what's gonna happen to you," said Mary Beth. She instructed him to take deep breaths. Once the procedure was complete, his mother, Alice, was allowed to see him for the first time. Robert was moved to another room where police questioned him about the stabbing. "He told me he wanted to talk with my girlfriend. She said that she didn't want to see him and he wouldn't listen to her or me. I didn't know he had a knife. While we were fighting, he stabbed me in the back," signed Robert. Later,that evening, sixteen-year-old hospital volunteer Claude Smith visited Robert in recovery. "It made me feel good to talk to him and they helped comfort him and make him feel better," said Claude. Four days later, Robert was given the news that he could go home. When he left the hospital he got a balloon and smiled at Mary Beth while she apologized for yelling at him and laughed. "I really like this hospital. But I really want to go home," signed Robert. Within six weeks, Robert's collapsed lung completely healed. "He graduated from the State School for the Deaf here in New Jersey and now he plans to go onto college," said Alice. Category:1991 Category:New Jersey Category:Stabbings